Jonathan Read reveals strategy behind 30% revenue growth

Following the report from our sister title Access All Areas that London venue Tobacco Dock has seen a 30 per cent revenue growth, EN asked Jonathan Read, its commercial director, to talk about the business model that has contributed to the result.

In the May to July period Tobacco Dock has played host of 29 events, 12 of which were consumer shows. In addition, events such as Lululemon’s SweatLife festival, Bike Shed, Hyper Japan and Women of Silicon Roundabout were staged at the venue in East London.

On top of that is a record of 18 events in the pipeline for August and September, including nine public gatherings. These include Gin Festival, Upload London —deemed a major UK influencer event —and the International London Tattoo Convention, one of the world’s leading body art show.

“I don’t believe it is one factor but a combination of greater brand awareness, more focussed marketing and a growing reputation for hosting best-in-class events whether B2B tech events or consumer food and drink shows,” Read told EN.

The partnership game

Jonathan Read

The Tobacco Dock chief said the company will continue to build on its successes and revealed the firm is significantly increasing its marketing investment in key target sectors to secure events in the venue.

“Our turnover is commercially sensitive so we will not be disclosing it but it comfortably exceeds £10m. The split is approximately 80% corporate events and 20% consumer shows,” Read added.

Since Tobacco Dock was relaunched as an events venue in 2012, it has worked “with a carefully vetted team of approved suppliers”, he said.

These include Visual Element, the in-house AV team, and Tobacco Dock Food, which is the venue’s catering brand operated in partnership with the Eventist Group.

Other suppliers in the roster are Max Wifi for data communications and other event support services such as EEP for security, Nukleen for cleaning and waste management, and various suppliers for exhibition stands, branding/graphics, health & safety planning/management, ticketing and furniture.

Read revealed that the venue also work closely with 50 creative event agencies and production companies such as GPJ, Smyle, TBA and WRG the vast majority of which have produced a variety of events in the venue for different clients.

“We launched with the ambition of being the creative producers’ venue of choice and continue to attract more and more business that requires an architectural interesting backdrop, cutting edge data, and technological infrastructure and the flexibility of multiple spaces,” he explained.

Tobacco Dock is a conference and event space located in the heart of Wapping, London. The venue features quayside views, natural daylight, an outdoor environment and in-house catering.

The site is also home to The Dock, a thriving co-working community of over 100 start-ups and scaling businesses.